GAA.ie Hurling Columnist, Michael Fennelly, is backing Galway to defeat Clare in Saturday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final.
By Michael Fennelly
If Clare are to defeat Galway in Saturday’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final, they’ll need to improve significantly on their quarter-final victory over Wexford.
Yes, they were impressive in the first 35 minutes when they scored 16 points with Tony Kelly steering the ship.
But there were only three points in it after 67 minutes because Clare allowed Wexford back into the match.
They finished strongly, hitting some nice scores, but if you give Galway the sort of latitude that Clare gave Wexford in the second-half you’ll be punished severely.
Inconsistency within a match is a big problem for Clare and they’ll need to hurl for the full 70 against Galway if they’re to spring a surprise.
With their mix of physicality and skill, the reigning All-Ireland champions represent the biggest challenge that Clare have faced so far this summer.
Kilkenny have arguably done Clare no favours either by giving Galway a wake-up call in the drawn Leinster SHC Final.
Until then Galway had been cruising in this year’s Championship, and without knowing it or seeing it, in that scenario complacency can set into a camp.
But after that fright in the drawn Leinster Final, Galway were far more tuned in for the replay and I don’t imagine complacency will be an issue for them now ahead of this match.
They are two wins away from winning back to back All-Ireland titles and being reigning champions and favourites can bring its own pressure, but I expect this will be well managed by Micheál Donoghue and his backroom team.
Galway's man-mountain full-forward, Jonathan Glynn, will be a handful for the Clare defence.
Galway have plenty of competition for places on the starting 15 which will keep their training sessions to a high standard. Their backline and midfield have been pretty much unchanged due to their consistency but their forward line has undergone some slight surgery.
Dropping Conor Cooney the last day shows Micheal Donoghue is intent on playing the best starting 15 based on form.
Jonathan Glynn will prove to be a serious handful again this weekend for the Clare backs with his towering size. Clare don’t have many height advantages with the exception of Conor Cleary.
How will the likes of David Mclnerney and Jack Browne handle Glynn who reaches 6’5’’, and that’s before you factor his arm-reach into the equation.
Height is not everything as we have seen from the like of JJ Delaney who would have handled all sorts back in his time at half back and full back.
I recall one year back in the early noughties where he was marking Dan Shanahan, and JJ being JJ, snatched any high ball that came their way.
Clare don’t have aerial class like this but they will need to spoil Glynn as much as possible and not compete to catch.
The ball coming in will need to be slow also and Clare will be hoping their full back or corner back won’t get isolated.
Will Clare deploy a sweeper on Saturday to try and curtail Galway’s scoring threat? If they do it may heavily reduce their own scoring ability up front, especially with Galway’s defence.
They were forced to use a sweeper against Wexford so they won’t be alien to that type of a system and have used it before during Davy’s tenure.
I don’t think Clare will go with a sweeper but they will probably sit much deeper and try and crowd their mid field and backline, but Croke Park is a vast field.
The second problem here is that Galway do have top quality forwards who can not only win their own ball but can win the 40:60 ones too. If Clare are going to reach this years All Ireland final, they will need a colossal performance from everyone involved.
Midfield is going to be huge battle as Galway really took over in the first half of the replay against Kilkenny.
Both David Burke and Johnny Coen delivered a mountain of ball into the Galway forwards in the first half and caused a lot of subsequent damage.
Clare will hope Colm Galvin can dominate the midfield battle.
Is Clare’s midfield pair up to the test? Cathal Malone is a big strong player and will probably pick up Burke and Galway might deploy Coen to watch Galvin’s movements.
Cathal doesn’t appear to be a natural midfielder but has performed well this year. He will really need to be on form if he’s to battle it out with Burke.
If Burke and Galvin go head to head, you will see two players playing their own game and it will come down to who hits the most ball that provided the most scores.
Tony Kelly will probably start in centre-forward but it could be something of a free role with the aim of moving around Gearoid Mclnerney.
The big battle of the day will be Daithi Burke and John Conlon. Conlon has been playing out of his skin and will be eager to continue in that form. There’s one player who you don’t want on your heels and that’s Burke.
Conlon could struggle to make headway if the supply of ball isn’t of a high calibre because Burke will be able to match his physicality.
I think this game is lining nicely for Burke as there is so much talk about Conlon and his consistent performances to date. Peter Duggan could see time on the edge of the square too and that will also be an interesting match-up.
Galway will need to be slightly off form and Clare will need to exceed expectations if the Banner are to progress to an All-Ireland Final.
I think Galway’s physical prowess will be the difference on Saturday. Clare will be hoping to keep the game open as possible but Galway can play down the centre or go to the wings.
Galway are a team now that nearly prefer going the direct route as they are reaping the rewards on the scoreboard.
Realistically its Galway’s to lose. If they perform like they can, I have no doubt they will be preparing for a consecutive All Ireland Final.
